Just 2 companies control 50% of India’s smartphone market

The year 2018 ended with just two companies together controlling around 50 per cent share of the India smartphone market – Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi and South Korean giant Samsung, according to latest data released by International Data Corporation (IDC).

Xiaomi surpassed Samsung to become the market leader in 2018 with 28.9 per cent share in the Indian smartphone market which shipped 142.3 million units last year, according to IDC’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report. Samsung came second with 22.4 per cent share.
In 2017, Xiaomi had 20.9 per cent market share, compared to 24.7 per cent share of Samsung.

In 2018, Vivo (14.2 per cent), OPPO (10.2 per cent) and Transsion (6.4 per cent) were the other three brands that found a place in the list of top five smartphone brands in the country.

Except Samsung, four of the five smartphone brands are based in China.

“Amongst the big highlights of 2018 were the online-focused brands that drove the share of the online channel to an all-time high of 38.4 per cent in 2018,” Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, said in a statement.

Responding to the report, Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain on Tuesday credited the stunning show by the company to “100 per cent team work” and love from “Mi Fans”.

“Mi Fans! Thank you for your love and support,” Jain tweeted, adding that in the fourth quarter of 2018, the company emrged as 54 per cent bigger than the second brand.

The results show that Apple, which experienced lower than expected sales of iPhones in some emerging markets in recent times, especially in China, has not been able to make much of an impact in the Indian smartphone market as well.

The premium smartphone segment (above Rs 35,000) constitutes a meagre three per cent share of the overall India smartphone market, despite outgrowing all other price segments in 2018 with 43.9 per cent year-over-year (YoY) growth, according to IDC.

“OnePlus emerged as the leader in $500-$700 segment on the back of the OnePlus 6 and the newly-launched OnePlus 6T. However, in the super premium segment of $700+, Samsung surpassed Apple for the top position with its Galaxy S9 series,” Joshi added.

With the government initiative to push local manufacturing in India, 2018 witnessed further duty hikes on mobile phone components, IDC said, adding that weakened rupee further added to the challenges of the long tail of brands outside the top five.

Doctor removes spoons-toothbrushes-knife from man’s stomach

Mandi: In a bizarre and weird incident, a man in Himachal Pradesh was found with seven spoons, two toothbrushes, two screwdrivers, a metal rod and a knife in his stomach.

The mentally-challenged man was being treated at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Government Medical College in Mandi where doctors on Saturday said the patient’s condition is critical.

The man came to the hospital with acute stomach ache and an X-ray revealed he had metallic objects in his stomach.

Earlier, doctors at the Bundi government hospital removed 116 iron nails, a long wire and an iron pellet from the stomach of a 42-year-old man in Rajasthan’s Bundi.

Doctor removes spoons, knife-rod from man’s stomach in Himachal:

The patient, identified as Bhola Shankar, had come for a medical check-up on Sunday following pain in the stomach for the last few days. The condition of the patient is normal and he was speaking properly post operation, Dr Saini further said.

The patient worked as a gardener and his family members were also not able to tell as to how he swallowed the objects, the surgeon said. The doctor said a similar case had taken place in Kolkata, where iron nails measuring 2.5 cm were removed from the stomach of a patient.

In July 2017, at least 150 needles and nails were also removed from the body of Badrilal (56), a Bundi resident, at a Faridabad hospital.